Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra claimed on Monday that dissidence in the ruling Congress has reached a flashpoint, with senior leaders and MLAs set to rebel against Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. He was speaking to reporters after Ayudha Pooja celebrations at the party office.
"Mr. Shivakumar's political base is shaking for various reasons. He is frustrated as senior Congress leaders and MLAs are set to raise a banner of revolt against him," Vijayendra said. "Hence, the Chief Minister is repeatedly trying to point an accusing finger at the Centre to divert public attention."
He, however, ruled out any possibility of the BJP trying to remove the Congress government. "People have voted the BJP to sit in the opposition," he said, framing his claim as an internal matter for the ruling party rather than a threat from his own side. Congress leaders have dismissed talk of any such rebellion.
The claim lands amid a running tussle between the state government and the Centre over a range of issues, and gives the opposition a fresh talking point on stability. Vijayendra did not name any legislator he expects to turn against the chief minister, and the assertion could not be independently verified. For now it stands as an opposition leader's characterisation of the ruling party's health, contested by the Congress.
Vijayendra is the son of senior BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa. His claim comes days after Chief Minister Shivakumar attacked the Centre over the sugarcane price and farmer issues, part of a broader state-versus-Centre tussle. Congress leaders say the BJP lacks the numbers to disturb the government.